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| “ | Well, looks like my little plan is working. | „ |
| ~ Vic Van Wrinkle. |
| “ | Now, let's see if we can make this boy Henry even more horrid, shall we? COME ON! DO IT! | „ |
| ~ Vic to the school inspectors. |
Victor "Vic" Van Wrinkle is the main antagonist of the 2011 live-action comedy film Horrid Henry: The Movie, based on the children's book series of the same name by Francesca Simon.
He is the sadistic, abusive and greedy headmaster of Brick House School who intends to close down Ashton Primary School, the school which Henry and his friends attend along with other schools in the district, so he can force parents by paying him a lot of money to send their children to his school instead.
He was portrayed by Richard E. Grant, who also played Withnail in Withnail & I, Barkis Bittern in Corpse Bride, The Great Intelligence in Doctor Who, Darwin Mayflower in Hudson Hawk, The Man With a Beard But No Hair in A Series of Unfortunate Events, Dr. Zander Rice in Logan and Allegiant General Pryde in Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker, and Vex in Sackboy: A Big Adventure.
Personality[]
At first, Van Wrinkle appears to be a respectable, charming, handsome, smart and wealthy person who is willing to teach students with education, but this turned out to be a facade, as in truth, he is revealed to be an abusive, ruthless, greedy, arrogant, obnoxious, selfish, manipulative, sadistic, sociopathic and cruel headmaster. Unlike the more comical villains, he is never played for laughs and is depicted as a serious character who darkens the mood whenever he appears onscreen.
Van Wrinkle's primary motivation is financial gain. He intends to close down Ashton Primary School and other local schools so parents are forced to pay a lot of money to send their children to his private institution, Brick House School, just to fuel his greed. He is shown to be verbally abusive towards the school inspectors, whom he uses as tools, and in his general approach and even orchestrates schemes, such as bribing the school inspectors to sabotage Ashton Primary's reputation. He often brags about his "evil plan" and seems assured of his success and has a very strict, no-nonsense approach to education, which makes Henry's rebellious behavior an anathema to him, even though they never directly interact.
Overall, Van Wrinkle has no redeeming qualities whatsoever, being nothing more than a psychopathic criminal who only cares about his goals while showing no empathy or remorse for his actions and never caring for anyone other than himself, which eventually leads to his downfall and arrest when his plans are exposed by Miss Lovely and Perfect Peter.
Biography[]
Van Wrinkle is the headmaster of Brickhouse School who wants children's parents to be paying him a lot of money for their children to come to Brickhouse School. His way of ensuring this is by bribing the School Inspectors to stir up trouble in Ashton Primary in order to justify it's closure. This would lead to parents having no choice but to send their children to Brickhouse.
The Inspectors encouraged Henry's pranks, causing Miss Battle-Axe and Miss Lovely to get fired for failing to punish Henry, the latter being captured by Wrinkle after attempting to spy on him at Brick House when being hired as a teacher there, which she would pass notes to Peter about Wrinkle's plan. Henry gets his Zero Zombies band to compete in the talent show in hopes of saving Ashton Primary from closure, although he succeeds by winning a game-show known as "Too Cool 4 School".
Later, Peter and his friends try rescuing Miss Lovely from Brick House, but are also captured by Wrinkle and he holds them hostage in his office. Perfect Peter reveals his plan to Miss Oddbod over the phone and ties the laces of his shoes together; therefore, while trying to escape from the authorities, he falls out of the window. Van Wrinkle and the School Inspectors are arrested and sent to the local jail. They are shown having their mugshots taken at the conclusion of the movie.
Trivia[]
- Despite being the main antagonist, Van Wrinkle does not make any direct interactions with Henry.
- Apart from getting his shoelaces tied together by Peter, Van Wrinkle has no comedic moments, redeeming or admirable traits and is taken very seriously throughout the movie.
- Due to his abusive, sadistic and cruel nature, Van Wrinkle is regarded as the most evil and darkest villain in the Horrid Henry series.
- Van Wrinkle is possibly based on Mr. Nerdon, although he is shown to be more sadistic and cruel than the latter.
- Van Wrinkle's name may be a reference to Rip Van Winkle, a short stroy American author Washington Irving.
- His last name and the fact he has African items in his office implies that like his actor, he is of African descent.
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 Villains
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